An environment such as an oil or gas well in an oilfield or undersea environment, a geothermal borehole, a carbon dioxide sequestration hole, refinery devices, fluid and gas transport lines and containers, and other such surface and downhole environments may expose equipment used in these environments to severe conditions of temperature, pressure, or corrosiveness. For example, equipment such as packers, blow out preventers, drilling motors, drilling bits, pipelines, etc. may be exposed to conditions that can affect the integrity or performance of the element and tools, and in particular, the performance of components of these tools fabricated from plastics or metals.
Plastic and metallic components having thermal, mechanical, and barrier properties are used in such environments that have a variety of such different and challenging conditions. These components however can be damaged by high temperature, corrosive, or lipophilic conditions found in these environments. Where an article has a rubber, plastic, or metal part, environmental conditions can cause, for example, swelling or corrosion by contact with hydrocarbon oil, water, brine, acid, or other materials found in such environments. This contact can weaken the structural integrity of the element or cause the element to have poor dimensional stability, resulting in difficulty in placing, activating, or removing the element.
Advances in methods and materials to ameliorate environmental effects on such components are well received by the industry.